Search form

Search form

China and Russia will together hold naval drills later this month in the East China Sea, a move China says is part of the country's regular naval practice. The exercises will take place north of an area disputed by China and Japan, where tensions are building over control of a series of islands.

Related Summaries

Gen. Fang Fenghui, the leader of the Chinese military, said China does not plan to concede "an inch" in a dispute with Vietnam over the site of an oil platform in the South China Sea. "We believe that the ones that are provoking those issues in the South China Sea [are] not China, but certain countries that are attempting to gain their own interests" due to the U.S. rebalancing strategy in Asia, he said.

More foreign customers may want to buy the Airbus Lakota helicopter following the U.S. Army's decision to purchase an extra 100 of the aircraft, Airbus says. Seeing the Army buy more of the Airbus UH-72 Lakota helicopters increases overseas buyers' confidence, said John Burke, Airbus Group's Lakota program manager. The Army will use the aircraft for pilot training, homeland security, medical service and other non-combat uses.

Navy fleet reductions are almost inevitable if sequestration isn't lifted, warns Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and the squeeze will be made worse by the money needed for an Ohio-class submarine replacement starting in 2021. Smith said that although discussions are underway about ending sequestration, there is little optimism that it will happen.

Communication tools used for special operations forces have to be able to provide secure data, video and voice transmission without a lot of bulk. Increasingly, the Navy SEALS, Army Rangers, Air Commandos, and other special operations forces are able to use small, agile tools to communicate securely. "The technology evolution we are seeing now allows devices to interoperate on multitude of host nation networks while still providing an acceptable level of security and protection without the cost or manpower of deploying private networks," said Chris Herndon, chief technology officer and vice president of the national security group at SRA International.

China and Russia will join forces to build general aviation aircraft in Erdos, China. The project to build four- to 12-seat planes is expected to produce 400 aircraft per year. China Oriental Sciences Group and the China-Russia International Investment Co. will partner with a Russian aircraft design firm.